


Not Quite the Afterspark

by Matrix_Matriarch



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Emotion Synaesthesia, First Meeting, Fluff, Inter-universal travel, M/M, Most Emotional Soundwave Meets Most Emotional Shockwave, Shattered Glass, Soundwave Didn't Die He Just Went On Holiday With SG Shockwave Indefinitely, Synaesthetic Soundwave, everyone lives au, post unicron, robots holding hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:15:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matrix_Matriarch/pseuds/Matrix_Matriarch
Summary: Operation: Absolution has an unexpected side-effect and now Soundwave is faceplate-to-faceplate with a Shockwave he can actually see. If he wasn't so tired and bewildered, he might enjoy the equal bewilderment his presence brings to this mirrored Shockwave.
Relationships: Shockwave/Soundwave
Comments: 5
Kudos: 71





	Not Quite the Afterspark

It had been a quiet day for Shockwave. Mediations with the humans were going well, trust was being established, and there hadn’t been a single peace-jeopardising Autobot incident in _weeks_. He was in the middle of discussions with a handful of Earth’s ambassadors for its many countries. The location had been specially chosen because it was safe, an empty desert in which nothing was likely to suddenly threaten Earth’s jumpy locals. They were even making decent progress in negotiating fortification of high-risk infrastructure for Autobot attacks, if he did say so himself.

And then, all at once, the air is crackling, glistening, distorting like some heat mirage or the HUD of cracked optics, and from the chaos a mech is assembling, like pieces, like dust. His paint job is a stark cold blue and icy silver, his visor a glowering red, and his insignia that dreaded purple. And yet… In the middle of the smooth glass of his chestplates, that insignia is a Decepticon one. He looks bewildered. He looks like…

“Soundwave?” Shockwave tries, hesitantly. The mech turns immediately at the sound of his voice, the last of the shimmer of whatever reality-breaking event horizon just materialised dissipating around him. His visor darkens.

“ **Shockwave:** trying something new? **Gold:** not a good look for you. Step away from those humans.” His sonic cannon powers up on his shoulder. The voice of this mech is so unlike the Sir Soundwave that Shockwave knew. It’s harsh and synthetic, but there are musical undertones to it. Traces of familiarity.  
“Unlikely.” Shockwave takes a defensive stance between this ‘other’ Soundwave and the human ambassadors, who have sensibly positioned themselves behind him. “I will not neglect my duty to defend these innocent beings. I may not be a top scientist like Starscream, but I know enough to tell what’s happened here. You’re from that positively-charged mirror universe. The one where Decepticons are evil. I don’t like to fight, but if you leave me no choice, I’ll do what must be done.”

A pause. The bio lights of the sonic cannon fade, and it transforms back into a harmless battery. Soundwave tilts his helm. “ **Shockwave; Soundwave:** both misunderstanding. **Soundwave:** will not harm the Earthlings. **Shockwave:** too logical to believe in such things as ‘evil’. **Conclusion:** you are not the Shockwave of my universe.” There’s something else to his tone, or perhaps burning in his visor. Something unsaid that Shockwave almost dares not pry into.

“That was… surprisingly open-minded of you.” Shockwave calls in a ground bridge, warily gesturing for the human ambassadors to go through, back to safety, in case this is some trick. He doesn’t know what this Soundwave is like. He can’t stake the lives of anyone, mech or organic, on the word of a stranger. And this is a stranger, he reminds himself. The shape may be similar, but this is not the mech he knows. Knew. “I’m not exactly the reigning expert, but there have been past incidents of inter-universal travel. Those who come through are mirror images of the mechs we know in this universe. Anyhow, Sir Soundwave and I may not have known each other that well, but you’re certainly not… The mech I… Er…” 

When did that deep blue servo make its way onto his shoulder? The mech had very quietly and startlingly quickly closed the proximity between them, the intensity of his visor overwhelming. There’s some drop in pressure, some warning tension prickling on the edge of Shockwave’s antenna, an uncanny notion that his thoughts are no longer his own darting through his processor. He wondered if perhaps he was too hasty in deciding to stay behind after ordering those humans to safety through the ground bridge.

“I see. I see… You.” Soundwave regards this Shockwave properly for the first time. Back in his own universe, Shockwave had been empty. A walking void, volatile and unknown. In this mech, he sees truth and honesty, something precious and genuine beneath the gold, silver and sapphire blue exterior. And also… Fear. A caution just a little too acute, which the crueller nature of the communications expert can’t help but have the urge to explore. How _pretty_ Shockwave looks when he finally beholds Soundwave with a respect that his shadowplayed counterpart could never afford him.

Right now, Soundwave is confused and tired and only half-convinced that he’s not actually dead, he can barely remember what he was even doing before he wound up here, his processor is a jumble of loss and a need for comfort that he very much doesn’t want to address. His servos are already brushing briefly against Shockwave’s antenna before he can think anything through, in a gesture he doesn’t presently have the processing capacity to regret. “I thought… I was dead.” He tilts his helm back, as though scrutinising the darkening sky above for answers.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Shockwave finds it much easier to focus now that the weight of that burning visor is lifted. All the same, he makes no move to discourage the other mech.

“ **Soundwave:** has had a long day.” the mech releases the long-suffering sigh only achievable by spending millennia babysitting an entire faction only to watch the leader defect, and have to fight off a primordial god in his absence. “I have lost too many close friends recently. I just wanted them to be safe, in a universe where peace and freedom prevail.”

“Losing loved ones is never not difficult. Those values of yours though, are surely the values of a true Decepticon. As long as you hold true to those ideals, nothing is in vain.” Shockwave offers sagely. Soundwave fixes him with a long stare.

“ **Shockwave:** naïve, yet… endearing.”

“I don’t come to _your_ universe just to insult _you_.”

“My apologies.” Soundwave sinks down, leaning against a nearby rock formation. Shockwave joins him hesitantly.

“It was not wholly an insult. **Gold:** not such a bad look on you after all. **Shockwave:** reminds me of a time when you were very different, in my own universe. We had more in common then. Perhaps the Decepticons of this universe have need of another communications officer?”

Shockwave regards the strange Decepticon carefully, before reaching to pat his servo reassuringly. He doesn’t miss the little jolt of surprise from his companion.

“You know… Maybe we do, after all.”


End file.
